FSF executive director John Sullivan will be speaking on the Free
Software implications of JavaScript.

JavaScript served to you by a site is still software. It runs on
your local computer. Typical computer use for just about everyone
involves executing copious amounts of JavaScript on a daily basis, no
matter what operating system they are using. The vast majority of it
carries no license or copyright notice at all, often because of
concerns about optimizing bandwidth and speed. This makes it
proprietary for the users who receive and execute it in their
browsers, even if the source code is available elsewhere on the
Internet in some repository under a free license. The Free Software
Foundation has proposed and implemented a couple of licensing metadata
methods by which JavaScript which is intended to be free software can
clearly say so, and therefore actually respect the freedom of its
users. This is the first step in compliant and realistic distribution
of copyleft-licensed JavaScript, as well as a step toward allowing
free software users to run only free software inside the browser as
they do outside the browser. Other approaches have been proposed as
well. What are the advantages and disadvantages to each? Why has
JavaScript licensing been such a problem in general? What are the
concrete impacts of this phenomenon? We will discuss these questions
and seek input on the FSF approach so far.